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Goldman Sachs, still smarting from the scathing public resignation of 32-year-old banker Greg Smith, is conducting a companywide e-mail scan looking for the word muppets and other derogatory terms, according to Reuters. While most Americans associate the Muppets with Jim Henson's furry creatures, it turns out that muppets is slang for "stupid people" in Britain, where Smith worked in the bank's London office.
Goldman's muppet hunt is part of a broader review being undertaken by the bank to look into Smith's incendiary charges, the wire said. In an op-ed for the New York Times published last Wednesday, Smith, who had been at Goldman for 12 years, accused the bank of putting its own interests before its clients'. It was a familiar charge: in 2010, Goldman paid $550 million to settle SEC charges that it had misled clients about a complex transaction involving hedge-fund billionaire John Paulson.
"It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off," Smith wrote. "Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as 'muppets,' sometimes over internal e-mail."
(MORE: Goldman Sachs Banker Quits 'Toxic' Firm: Will Clients Flee Next?)
This is not the first time Goldman has had to deal with potentially damaging e-mails. Recall the famous 2010 exchange between Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, and Goldman CFO David Viniar, in which Levin waved an e-mail printout from a Goldman trader describing a particular deal as "sh*tty" — a deal Goldman continued to sell to clients anyway. Asked for his reaction, Viniar said, "I think that's very unfortunate to have on e-mail."
If Smith's charges are true, apparently some at Goldman didn't get the message: It's probably not the best idea to talk smack about your clients — or the products you're selling them — in corporate e-mails. (Let's set aside, for the moment, whether it's substantively a good or ethical business practice to treat your clients with contempt or sell them "sh*tty" products.)
So what will Goldman do if it uncovers evidence that its executives have been disparaging its clients? Will it publish a mea culpa in the Times? Will it fire the offending employees? Will we ever know the results of its investigation? It's easy to take the cynical view that this scan is little more than a dog and pony show, strategically leaked to the press in order to convey the impression that Goldman gets it and is determined to root out the rotten apples Smith wrote about. On the other hand, it's possible that the e-mail scan itself might be designed as a warning to employees to watch what they write.
In any event, one has to imagine that if Smith was telling the truth, there may be a few Goldman bankers feeling hot under the collar. Speaking on Bloomberg TV Thursday, William Cohan, the author of Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World, said, "I wouldn't want to be the guy who used the word muppets in an e-mail right now."


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BEIRUT (AP) — Between blasts of rockets and mortar fire, Syrians used loudspeakers to call for blood donations and medical supplies Thursday in the stricken city of Homs, where a weeklong government offensive has created a deepening humanitarian crisis.
Government forces are trying to crush pockets of violent resistance in Homs, the epicenter of an 11-month-old uprising that has brought the country ever closer to civil war. The intense shelling in restive neighborhoods such as Baba Amr has made it difficult to get medicine and care to the wounded, and some areas have been without electricity for days, activists say.
"Snipers are on all the roofs in Baba Amr, shooting at people," Abu Muhammad Ibrahim, an activist in Homs, told The Associated Press by phone.
"Anything that moves, even a bird, is targeted. Life is completely cut off. It's a city of ghosts," he added.
As he spoke, explosions could be heard in the background.
"The bombardment has not eased, day or night," he said, asking to be identified by his nickname for fear of reprisals. "Do you hear the sound of the rockets? Children have been wounded, elderly with extreme injuries."
Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed since early Saturday in the heaviest attack the city has endured since the uprising began in March, activists said.
"This brutal assault on residential neighborhoods shows the Syrian authorities' contempt for the lives of their citizens in Homs," said Anna Neistat, associate emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. "Those responsible for such horrific attacks will have to answer for them."
Human Rights Watch also said eyewitness accounts, as well as video reviewed by the group's arms experts, suggest Syrian government forces are using long-range, indirect fire weapons such as mortars.
Such weapons "are inherently indiscriminate when fired into densely populated areas," the New York-based group said.
The wounded have overwhelmed makeshift hospitals and clinics, and there were growing concerns that the locked-down city could soon run out of supplies.
"There is medicine in the pharmacies, but getting it to the field clinics is very difficult. They can't get the medicine to the wounded," Mohammed Saleh, a Syria-based activist, told the AP by telephone.
Baba Amr, he said, has been without electricity since Saturday.
The assault on Homs began after reports that army defectors and other armed opponents of President Bashar Assad were setting up their own checkpoints and taking control of some areas. The reports could not be confirmed.
But the city is the capital of Syria's largest province, stretching from the Lebanese border to the Iraqi frontier. If rebel forces keep gaining ground there, some believe they could ultimately carve out a zone akin to Benghazi in eastern Libya, where rebels launched their successful uprising against Moammar Gadhafi last year.
Saleh said most of the government attacks have been "bombardment from a distance," with regime forces keeping armored vehicles out of the neighborhoods.
Fighters from the rebel Free Syrian Army have been firing back with rocket-propelled grenades and rockets, according to activists' accounts.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees were trying to compile numbers and names of those killed Thursday. The LCC, an activist group, said up to 100 people were killed in Homs, but the toll was impossible to independently verify. The Observatory reported 63 deaths in Homs.
Activists also reported violence in the towns of Zabadani and Daraa.
As the bloodshed persists, the international community is searching for new diplomatic approaches to stop the protracted conflict.
The Syrian government blames the unrest on a foreign conspiracy by Israel and the West. It says armed gangs and terrorists are behind the uprising, not protesters seeking democratic change.
The uprising began with mostly peaceful protests but has transformed into an armed insurgency against Assad in many areas, raising fears the country is spiraling toward civil war. In January, the U.N. estimated an overall death toll of more than 5,400 since March.
The number of children killed has climbed into the hundreds, said Radhika Coomaraswamy, the U.N. representative for children in armed conflict, adding that the situation was particularly harrowing in Homs.
The Syrian regime's crackdown on dissent has left it almost completely isolated internationally as nations have imposed sanctions and withdrawn diplomats. In the latest action, Libya on Thursday gave Syria's top envoy to the country and embassy staff 72 hours to leave, according to Libyan Foreign Ministry press officer Saad Elshlmani.
The United States, meanwhile, is working with its European and Arab allies to organize the inaugural meeting of the "Friends of Syria" to explore ways to further isolate President Bashar Assad, support his foes and end continuing violence. The State Department said that its top Mideast envoy has been dispatched to Morocco, France and Bahrain to help put the meeting together.
Assad has political backing from Russia and China, which delivered a double veto over the weekend in the U.N. Security Council that blocked a resolution calling on him to leave power.
On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the lack of unity on the council "has encouraged the Syrian government" to step up its attacks on civilians.
"Thousands have been killed in cold blood, shredding President Assad's claims to speak for the Syrian people," Ban said. "I fear that the appalling brutality we are witnessing in Homs, with heavy weapons firing into civilian neighborhoods, is a grim harbinger of worse to come."
The sanctions are crippling Syria's economy, but they have failed to stop the military offensives.
There also are fears that the conflict is taking on dangerous sectarian overtones in some areas, including Homs.
Syria's 22 million people are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, but Assad and the ruling elite belong to the Alawite sect, which comprises about 10 percent of the population.
The political domination by Alawites has bred seething resentment, which Assad tried to tamp down by enforcing the strictly secular ideology of his Baath Party.
But as the uprising surged, with Sunnis making up the backbone of the revolt, Assad called heavily upon his Alawite power base to crush the resistance, feeding sectarian tensions like those that fueled civil wars in Iraq and Lebanon.
A senior Arab League official said the Cairo-based organization will discuss Sunday whether to recognize the opposition Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of Syria and whether to allow it to open offices in Arab capitals. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because no decision has been made on the issue.
The U.N. chief said the head of the Arab League plans to send observers back into Syria and has raised the possibility of a joint mission with the United Nations. Ban provided no specifics, but the idea appears aimed at giving the league a boost after its earlier mission was pulled out of Syria because of security concerns.
Also Thursday, Germany expelled four Syrian diplomats following the arrest this week of two men accused of spying on Syrian opposition groups in the country.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he ordered the expulsions of the four Syrian Embassy employees.
German federal prosecutors said Tuesday they had arrested a Syrian and a German-Lebanese dual national on suspicion that they spied on Syrian opposition supporters in Germany for several years.
Associated Press writers Lee Keath in Beirut, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Anita Snow at the United Nations contributed to this report.

subset: commoncrawl


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Devil Woman / The Ogress
Kaneto Shindô
Japan, 1964
Review by Marlin Tyree
Posted on 07 October 2006
Source The Criterion Collection DVD
Related articles
Features: 31 Days of Horror
"I've never seen anything really beautiful since the day I was born" is probably the only indispensable bit of dialogue in Kaneto Shindô's 1964 horror classic Onibaba, made by the mother, one of three central characters in the film. She tells this to a samurai who has broken rank but professes to have divine facial beauty though it remains hidden behind an exquisitely crafted demon mask. The remark is especially telling because it is just this deep cynicism, selfishness and decidedly dark perspective on life that colors everything the mother observes and will eventually destroy the world around her.
The conditions under which she and her daughter-in-law (the son having been killed in the war) are forced to live are already bleak: It is medieval Japan during the warring-states period. Soldiers have trampled the land and farmers are reduced to scavenging and even killing for survival. Life for the mother and daughter is at its most primitive and becomes more brutal when a man, a close friend of the dead son, Hatchi, threatens the cohesiveness of the primitive household. The sexual attraction between the daughter-in-law and Hatchi is a direct threat not only the mother's way of life but to the repressive forces of life that she comes to represent. Her obsession over the prospective threat, in fact, becomes a demonic force. The hellfire that will presumably consume the out-of-wedlock lovers, which is what the mother preaches to the daughter, is actually that force which blocks or forestalls the impetus to life, particularly the sexual impulse, and derives from the mother herself. The mother becomes the hellfire she warns the daughter against.
The basic Zen principle behind the story is, namely: the observer is that which is observed is admirably demonstrated, though some say, overworked, by Shindô in Onibaba. As in most cinematic treatments, Buddhist stories included, conveying the lesson is simple but the way in which it's told is everything. And luckily, the film, moves beyond the confines of the koan (a Buddhist instructional story). Visually, the film is also a stunning exploration of the spiritual component of sexuality in which every aspect of the environment contributes to the young lovers' eventual consummation. It makes the mother's negative attitude toward the lovers seem like a cancerous destruction.
The film is shot in black and white amidst a lush marshland covered with shoulder length reeds. The only clearing in the brush that we're privy to during the course of the film is reserved for either the river, narrow passageways, the huts of the characters or the infamous black hole, from which the film gets it's title. Otherwise the waving reeds serve as a menacing sexual metaphor for the events that enfold, particularly during scenes of heightened sexual tension between the daughter-in-law and Hatchi. The reeds add a depth of field to a rather simple scenario and conceals as much as it reveals about the inner life while serving the outward machinations of the characters. Although it permeates the foreground, it is essentially neutral in character and becomes an extension of the characters and a fantastic visual tool for Shindô — an extended metaphor of sexuality representing the fundamental aspect of human life.
In fact, the look of the film is primarily its main attraction. Cinescope allowed cinematographer Kiyomi Kuroda to capture the lush environs surrounding and enveloping the characters within their small drama. Composer Hiraku Hayashi's evocative score is intelligently placed, highlighting the more dramatic elements within the narrative and underscoring the more subtle, though silence seems to serve the film best in places and especially in its penultimate moment.
It's apparent that Shindô's story is an extended allegory (of sorts) of the tiny community and the world at large but it's never overtly, or pointedly, political. He pushes the allegory furthest with his dialogue. For the most part it's effectively spare but pushes credibility when, for instance, the mother moralizes. Particularly clumsy are passages where in the mother's futile effort to scare the daughter-in-law out of her sexual attraction to Hachi, she dryly comments, "We've done nothing wrong. No demon can come after us. Might come after someone who's bad, though." These two women, who have been hardened by war and depravation, have long since passed the threshold of "good and bad," yet the dialogue continually reflects a relationship of presumed naiveté. This heavy-handedness mars the film's otherwise seamless visual beauty and slows down its narrative progression unnecessarily. Spare as the dialogue is, Shindô might have evoked far more with even less. It's an unfortunate aspect of an otherwise compelling visual tale.
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4 cups 1/2-inch pieces seeded peeled fresh sugar pumpkin or butternut squash
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
4 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
12 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, thinly sliced
1 pound fettuccine
2/3 cup shelled pumpkin seeds, toasted
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 450°F. Toss pumpkin with olive oil in large bowl to coat. Transfer pumpkin to baking sheet. Bake until pumpkin is tender and beginning to brown, stirring once, about 30 minutes.
Transfer pumpkin to processor. Add 2 1/2 cups chicken stock. Puree until smooth. Add mascarpone cheese and ground cinnamon. Process to blend. Season with salt and pepper.
Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add remaining 2 cups chicken stock. Boil until stock is reduced by half, about 8 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Stir in pumpkin mixture. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over medium heat before continuing.)
Cook fettuccine in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Transfer fettuccine to large bowl. Add sauce and toasted pumpkin seeds; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Serve, passing Parmesan cheese separately.


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(AP) — An underground tank holding some of the worst radioactive waste at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site might be leaking into the soil.
The U.S. Energy Department said workers at Washington state's Hanford Nuclear Reservation detected higher radioactivity levels under tank AY-102 during a routine inspection Thursday.
Spokeswoman Lori Gamache said the department has notified Washington officials and is investigating the leak further. An engineering analysis team will conduct additional sampling and video inspection to determine the source of the contamination, she said.
State and federal officials have long said leaking tanks at Hanford do not pose an immediate threat to the environment or public health. The largest waterway in the Pacific Northwest — the Columbia River — is still at least 5 miles away and the closest communities are several miles downstream.
However, if this dangerous waste escapes the tank into the soil, it raises concerns about it traveling to the groundwater and someday potentially reaching the river.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said the potential leak "raises very troubling questions." He said additional testing is expected to take several days, but he also said the state will be insisting on an accelerated plan to deal with all the waste at Hanford — something the state and federal government will be discussing in the coming weeks.
"If we do not receive satisfaction in those meetings in the next few weeks, we have several legal options available to us," Inslee said. "And we'll act accordingly."
The state says there is no immediate public health threat and that the river is not at immediate risk of contamination.
Tom Carpenter, executive director of the Seattle-based advocacy group Hanford Challenge, said, "This is really, really bad. They are going to pollute the ground and the groundwater with some of the nastiest stuff, and they don't have a solution for it."
Downriver from Hanford in Oregon, Ken Niles was somber.
"These last few months just seem like one body blow after another," said Niles of Oregon's Energy Department. "It's true this is not an immediate risk, but it's one more thing to deal with among many at Hanford."
AY-102 is one of Hanford's 28 tanks with two walls, which were installed years ago when single-shell tanks began leaking. Some of the worst liquid in those tanks was pumped into the sturdier double-shell tanks.
The tanks are now beyond their intended life span.
Two radionuclides comprise much of the radioactivity in Hanford's tanks: cesium-137 and strontium-90. Both take hundreds of years to decay, and exposure to either would increase a person's risk of developing cancer.
The Energy Department announced last year that AY-102 was leaking between its two walls, but it said then that no waste had escaped.
However, Seattle television station KING5 has reported that the cleanup contractor knew a year earlier that the tank was leaking.
Mike Geffre, an instrument technician who works for contractor Washington River Protection Solutions, said Thursday's inspection came from a pit under the tank, like a saucer under a teacup. Water samples from the pit had an 800,000-count of radioactivity and a high dose rate, which means that workers must reduce their time in the area.
"Anything above a 500 count is considered contaminated and would have to be disposed of as nuclear waste," Geffre said. "Plus, the amount of material we've seen from the leak is very small, which means it's a very strong radioactive isotope."
At the height of World War II, the federal government created Hanford in the remote sagebrush of eastern Washington as part of a hush-hush project to build the atomic bomb. The site ultimately produced plutonium for the world's first atomic blast and for one of two atomic bombs dropped on Japan, and it continued production through the Cold War.
Today, it is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, with cleanup expected to last decades. The effort — with a price tag of about $2 billion annually — has cost taxpayers $40 billion to date and is estimated will cost $115 billion more.
The most challenging task so far has been the removal of highly radioactive waste from the 177 aging, underground tanks and construction of a plant to treat that waste.
The one-of-a-kind plant, long considered the cornerstone of Hanford cleanup, will encase the waste in glasslike logs for permanent disposal. But workers designing and building it have encountered numerous technical problems, delays and skyrocketing costs.
The latest concerns center on adequate mixing of the waste, with the potential for explosions if radioactivity is allowed to build up in one area, and erosion and corrosion in vessels and piping. Last priced at $12.3 billion, the cost is expected to rise further.
The plant isn't expected to begin operating before 2019, far beyond the original 2011 deadline.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz visited the site Wednesday for the first time since being confirmed by the Senate in May. He said he intends to have a new plan by the end of the summer for resolving the technical problems with the waste treatment plant.
Meanwhile, the Energy Department recently notified Washington and Oregon that it may miss two upcoming deadlines to empty some single-shell tanks and, amid the technical problems, to complete construction on a key part of the plant to handle some of the worst waste.
AP Writer Mike Baker contributed to this report from Olympia.


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The 1.5.1 release fixes a few issues with 1.5.0. Especially, it
- fixes a crash bug which could happen when PEP8 checking was enabled
- fixes capitalization in the coding line completion
- displays the correct plugin version in the About dialog
There's one thing I forgot to announce in the 1.5 release: PEP8 checking support (which was actually a good thing, since it was rather crashy until now ;)).
PEP8 checking suppot in kdev-python 1.5.1 |
By default it is disabled though, since it displays a lot of errors for people who don't follow PEP8, so if you want to use it, go to Settings -- Configure KDevelop -- PEP8 style checking (the change will only apply to newly opened or modified files).
If there's any issues, please make sure to let me know on the bug tracker.
The tarball can be found here, sha256 checksum is d9b68bd2dd9361961e264254d2acfebc9ce0ea4b47ea2689d2f01a3ed81f7c47


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Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) is the world's preeminent organization for girls, with a membership of more than 3.5 million girls and adults. Today, as when founded in 1912, GSUSA helps cultivate values, social conscience, and self-esteem in young girls, while also teaching them critical life skills that will enable them to succeed as adults. In Girl Scouting-and its special girl-only environment-girls discover the fun, friendship and power of girls together.
If you are looking for a rewarding experience for your daughter and she is entering kindergarten, 2nd or 3rd grade, Troop 10502 would like to invite you and your daughter to join us for fun and adventure in the coming year. Troop 10502 is a multi-level Girl Scout troop located in Fayetteville, Georgia. Our multi-level troop consist of Daisies and Brownies. Our troop is a member of the 616 Service Unit of the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta. For further details please feel free to contact Bridget Mullen at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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This was a triple music video for hip hop artist Shy B. The videos string together to form a short film. I did more traditional CG chores than I'm used to for this project. Normally, I'm hired to take care of the generative elements that need a code artist. This time, I did the 2D/3D rotos, matched shapes in Maya, painted photoshop masks, and did final compositing with the help of Becca Shostak. Shy's handwriting was added to the space, the words moving and reacting to the performer. In one shot, we replaced a license plate. In another shot, we added graffiti to the side of a moving truck.
OpenFrameworks C++ Source for Shimmering Stars


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O by Cirque du Soleil at Bellagio Hotel
Event Category: ShowsEvent Tags: Bellagio, Cirque du Soleil, and O
Welcome to the world of O by Cirque du Soleil, at the Bellagio Hotel. With a production that has never been attempted, let alone imagined, until now, this Vegas show is sure to amaze you with a combination of both aerial and aquatic performances.
Click Here to Purchase Your Tickets On many nights, "O" offers 2 different showtimes. Click to find out what show date and time works best for you.
"O" is a whimsical and visually stunning show that transports audiences into a fantastical world of wonderment and awe with the use of stunning acrobatics surrounded by air, fire, and, most prominently, water.
Made up of 85 performers and 150 stagehands, "O" contains greatly imaginative, yet seemingly impossible images and can be thought of as a living representation of a Salvador Dali or Vladimir Kush painting. The complex combination of flowing movement from the performers at all times during the show creates an ever-evolving work of art accented by lighting special effects and an innovative soundtrack performed by an ensemble of live musicians & singers. See the stage go from a 25-foot pool into a flat surface in seconds.
About O by Cirque du Soleil
"O" is an aquatic tapestry composed of theatrical elements and surrealism. Having been viewed by over 2 million patrons and having been named as the Best Las Vegas Production Show for the 2nd year in a row, there is no reason to pass up this opportunity while in Vegas. In contrast to some other Cirque du Soleil shows, in which the focus is directed more towards individual characters, "O" is an engulfing show that takes place all around you. Dive into O!
"O" explores the essential and often unnoticed role that water plays in our lives.
Weaving a tapestry of artistry, surrealism, and theatrical romance, "O" pays tribute to the beauty of theatre. Inspired by the concept of infinity and the elegance of water, world-class acrobats, synchronized swimmers, and divers create a breathtaking experience. Only at Bellagio, Las Vegas.
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To get the best deal on your show tickets, Click Here to Purchase Your Tickets Online


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Active living for the holidays
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow? Whether you're a fan of the white stuff or not, it'll be hard for many of us to avoid the snow this winter. Rather than hibernating until spring, embrace the fun, festive, seasonal spirit and take part in some winter fitness.
You could gather your family and friends and make winter fitness a group thing. Or you could head out into the snow with only yourself and a playful, adventurous attitude. Either way, find a place for fitness in your holiday schedule. Physical activity can help relieve stress and burn off some of those holiday indulgences. It doesn't have to take a lot of time, or even be particularly strenuous. Evidence shows that even low-intensity exercise has health benefits.
Keep in mind that while physical activity offers a range of health rewards, everyone should proceed at their own pace. If you have been habitually physically inactive, start slowly and gradually add on daily to the amount of exercise you do. If you have health concerns, speak to your health professional about the level or type of activity that is right for you. For extra information on physical fitness, read "Canada's Physical Activity Guidelines" at https://csepguidelines.ca/.
Try the following activities. Winter has much to offer – get out there and enjoy the season!
Strap on those skates. Whether you're skating on a rink, a lake, or canal, make the most of the outdoor skating season. It's part of the Canadian winter landscape! If you do skate on lakes, canals, or other natural bodies of water, remember that ice can be unpredictable and that you should always check with local authorities in advance about the safety of the ice you'd like to skate on.
Hit the slopes. Snowboarding, downhill skiing, tobogganing... slopes of varying grades provide hours of fun. Ski hills offer ski and snowboard lessons for everyone from beginner level onwards, so the whole family can get involved. And an afternoon of tobogganing can get the heart pumping and the laughter roaring. What better way to top off the holidays?
Ski cross-country. Whether you live in an urban or rural setting, Canada has a wealth of nearby parks and trails just waiting to be explored. Before you venture out, familiarize yourself with appropriate safety precautions. Contact your local cross-country ski organization for more details.
Walk in a winter wonderland. Or, better yet, put on the snowshoes. "Snowshoeing in a winter wonderland" doesn't have the same ring, but it may be just the way to slow down the holiday pace and appreciate the beauty that the season has to offer – and get some good exercise too!
All material copyright MediResource Inc. 1996 – 2024. Terms and conditions of use. The contents herein are for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Source: www.medbroadcast.com/healthfeature/gethealthfeature/Happy-Healthy-Holidays


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Kids Before Corporations: Why Tax Reform Matters for Moms
Last week Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) introduced the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, S. 1533. It might not seem obvious, but Sen. Levin's bill, which would close corporate tax loopholes and eliminate incentives for shipping jobs and profits overseas, would be a HUGE help for families and children in America.
You might be asking yourself: What do tax havens have to do with motherhood and raising a family? Fair question. When corporations hide their profits offshore and avoid paying their fair share of taxes struggling families have to pick up the bill. On top of buying school supplies, groceries and gas, now we have to pay more to compensate for the money that's drained from the economy when companies like FedEx and Apple dodge their taxes.
In case you're still fuzzy about why this matters to moms and families, here are two really important ways this bill can make it easier to make ends meet:
1. It can raise at least $220 billion in tax revenue over the next 10 years. We can use that money to protect benefits and services that families depend on. This year 57,000 of our kids couldn't enroll in Head Start, because the program was cut by $400 million under the across-the-board spending cuts mandated by Congress. The kids who can go to school are spending their days in rundown buildings without enough teachers. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives, largely on a party-line vote, cut $39 billion from SNAP, the Food Stamp program that helps millions of moms keep their kids from going hungry. Why should moms and families sacrifice and suffer while corporations can hide billions in tax havens to avoid paying their taxes?
As moms, we teach our kids to take responsibility and do the right thing. America's largest corporations should do the same. While working families and single moms are struggling to pay their bills, General Electric didn't pay a dime in federal taxes in four recent years. It's wrong that your family paid more in taxes than a company that makes billions of dollars a year.
FedEx's effective income tax rate was just 4.2% on $9 billion of profits over the last five years. Those of us in the middle-class making $50,000 a year or so have a 15% federal income tax rate.
It's time that corporations play by the same rules as the rest of us, instead of gaming the system to avoid paying their fair share. Levin's bill will level the playing field and allow us to make critical investments in healthcare, education for our kids and in medical research and rebuilding our infrastructure to strengthen the economy.
2. It will keep jobs in the United States. Moms work harder than anyone else to make sure their kids have everything they need to thrive. But when the tax system provides tax breaks for corporations to move jobs and operations overseas, many moms lose the opportunity to work at all. These corporations shut their plants and their offices here, send out their pink slips and set up shop in a country where the tax rate is a lot lower. And our tax dollars subsidize it!
When we close the loopholes that make moving jobs overseas so easy and profitable, we'll get an economy that works for all of us. The Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act will help keep those jobs here in the United States and help families to keep working.
As you know, nothing happens quickly or easily in Congress. Getting this important bill passed will be an uphill battle, but I know moms and their allies are up for the fight. If we want to do what is right for kids by making corporations pay their fair share, we are going to have to band together and start making noise.
Get started by signing our petition supporting the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act. Let Congress know what matters to moms: Kids over corporations -- I support Sen. Levin's bill that will close corporate tax loopholes that ship jobs and profits overseas.
Let's invest in America instead.


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Playlist for ROCK FIGHT 10!!!
Tuesday, July 9, 3pm
– John Hell
It only happen once every six months. And when it does, babies hide their children, drunks hide there malt liquor, men cry into their beer. I can only be talking about one thing: ROCK FIGHT!
It's that time again, ladies and gentlemen, when rock poster artist Rotten Ron Donovan and Radio DJ Stalwart, John Hell get together and lay down the massive pipe that is ROCK FIGHT!!!
Ron and I have what amounts to be the largest combined collection of live bootlegs anywhere this side of analog hill (unseen on Google Maps). Every six months in December and June we get together to see who's is bigger and badder.
Every track below is followed by the date/location and who chose the track; JH for me, and RD for Ron. As you'll see, I've clearly got him beat, 2-1. He was also more than an hour late, which is why the first chunk of music is from me.
Not only is the music full of top notch performances and excellent recording quality, but the smack talk between music blocks sets a new standard (high or low, you decide).
There's an interview with Limbomaniac's frontman/bassist, Butthouse in the fifth hour, too.
Get ready for some prime time, low down, face-to-face, bootleg MAYHEM!!!
If you would like to stream this testament to ROCK, go here.
If you would like to harness the power to rock on the go, download here.
If you care to listen to all of my pounding performances, go here, or scroll down.
A Season in Hell with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia, 87.9FM in SF
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Rock Fight: Cheech and Chong
Here I Am: Al Green (10-04-74 Midnight Special, Hollywood, CA)-JH
Natbush City Limits: Ike and Tina Turner (01-19-75 Soul Train)-JH
Stone Junkie: Curtis Mayfield (06-06-72 Radio City Music Hall, NYC, NY)-JH
Stevie Wonder: You Are The Sunshine Of My Life->Big Brother->Blowing In The Wind
(03-04-73 Berkeley Community Theater, Berkelely, CA)-JH
Thank You: Sly and the Family Stone (10-09-70 Piknik Kasteel Groenveld Baarn, Netherlands)-JH
One Nation Under a Groove: P Funk (11-01-78 Howard Theater, Washington DC-JH
Country Road: Toots and the Maytals (04-22-1978 The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, Ontario)-JH
Midnight Ravers: Bob Marley (06-10-75 Quiet NIght Club, Chicago, IL)-JH
Let's Work: Prince (04-24-13 Late Show, DNA Lounge, SF, CA)-RD
You Got the Look: Prince (04-24-13 Late Show, DNA Lounge, SF, CA)-RD
Endorphin Machine: Prince (04-24-13 Late Show, DNA Lounge, SF, CA)-RD
She's Always in my Hair: Prince (04-24-13 Late Show, DNA Lounge, SF, CA)-RD
Cold Sweat: James Brown (08-26-68 Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, TX)-JH
Sex Machine: James Brown (03-18-71 Olympia Theater, Paris, France)-JH
Barracuda: Heart (06-17-13 West Palm Beach, FL)-RD
Bad Reputation: Joan Jett (08-08-81 Fireman's Memorial Park, Hempstead, NJ)-JH
Back in Black: AC/DC (02-27-81 Melbourne, AU)-RD
Waiting for the Bus/ Jesus Just Left Chicago: ZZ Top (04-19-80 Rockpalast, Grugenhalle Essen, Germany)-JH
Hot Line: Black Sabbath (1983???)-RD
Cherry Bomb: The Runaways (07-19-76 The Agora, Cleveland, OH)-JH
Monkey on my Back: Aerosmith (06-04-94 Donnington, England)-RD
Motor City Madhouse: Ted Nugent (05-23-81 Cobo Hall, Detroit, MI)-JH
On Top of the World: Cheap Trick (12-31-79 Fabulous Forum, Inglewood, CA-)JH
Boys are Back in Town: Thin Lizzy (05-14-76 Detroit, MI)-JH
The Phoenix: The Cult (03-16-12 Waterloo Records – SXSW, Austin, TX)-RD
The Rover / Sick Again: Led Zeppelin (05-30-77 Capitol Centre Landover, Maryland)-JH
In My Time of Dying: Led Zeppelin (03-19-75 Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC, Canada)-RD
Misty Mountain Hop: Led Zeppelin 08-11-79 Knebworth Festival Stevenage, UK-JH
Heartbreaker: Led Zeppelin: (12-06-96 Chatenay-Malabry, France-JH)
Hour Four:
Gimme Shelter: Rolling Stones (LA 1975)-RD
I'm Losing You: The Faces (04-05-73 Sundown Theater, London England)-JH
Shake!: The Time (02-03-91, Japan)-RD
My Adidas: Run DMC (1985 The Apollo Theater, NYC, NY)-JH
Time to get Ill: Beastie Boys (07-05-98 Werchter, Belgium)-JH
Rock Your Socks Off: Tenacious D (09-28-01 Higher Ground, Winooski, VT)-JH
Interview with Butthouse of Limbomaniacs
Porno: Limbomaniacs (09-01-90 I-Beam, SF, CA)-JH
Seven Nation Army: White Stripes (06-13-07 Maida Vale Studios, London, England)-JH
Hour six
Learn to Fly: Foo Fighters (2012 Buenos Aires)-RD
Hard to Handle: Black Crowes (10-19-99 Greek Theater, Los Angeles, CA)-JH
X-Offender: Blondie (09-21-77 Old Wardorf San Francisco, CA)-RD
Jocko Homo: Devo (08-03-77 Mabuhay Gardens (The "Fab Mab"), San Francisco, C)-JH
Rock and Roll: Supersuckers (???? Ron has no clue when/where this show is from)
400 Bucks: Reverend Horton Heat (06-09-06 Wakarusa Music Festival, Lawrence, KS)-JH
Blitzkrieg Bop: The Ramones (05-21-76 The Club, Cambridge, MA)-JH
Join Together/Goin' Mobile: fIREHOSE (08-25-89 The Music Machine, Santa Monica, CA)-JH
School's Out: Alice Cooper (Bonnaroo, TN 06-09-12)-RD
Nothing to Lose: Kiss (09-03-76 Richfield Stadium, Richfield, OH)-JH
Take a Letter Maria: Pleasure Barons (03-93 Vancouver, BC)-JH


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A preliminary plan of subdivision must be accompanied by a traffic impact study if the proposed development generates 50 trips or more during any peak hour. Traffic studies for proposed developments of this size or larger are prepared by the applicant and reviewed by staff in order for the Planning Board to make the required findings regarding adequacy of transportation facilities in the Subdivision Ordinance. In cases where a development generates fewer than 50 trips, the transportation staff must still review the preliminary plan in order for the Planning Board to make the required findings, and may request (but not require) a limited traffic study or traffic counts to assist in making these findings. Developments generating five or fewer peak hour trips may be deemed to have a minimal, or de minimus, impact, and if so deemed, are not required to provide traffic-related information.
The Planning Board publishes the
Guidelines for the Analysis of the Traffic Impact of Development Proposals (Guidelines)
. This document establishes criteria by which staff and applicants with land development proposals can assess the traffic impact of the development proposals, and incorporates methods and practices which are currently being used to review and evaluate traffic conditions.
Traffic is also reviewed in detail during review of mixed-use and comprehensive design rezoning applications. Certain types of special exceptions require limited traffic analyses, but in accordance with the required special exception findings, such studies often focus on traffic safety. As noted earlier, detailed site plans are intended to review design issues, and as such generally do not involve the review of transportation adequacy issues.
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Jeeez! A man known for his enormous penis was stopped by security at San Francisco International airport and questioned about the bulge in his pants, he was reported as saying Thursday.
Jonah Falcon, 41, has an organ which is 9.5 inches long when flaccid and 13 inches (33 centimeters) erect, according to Rolling Stone magazine. He has featured in a number of documentaries about the world's biggest penises.
He was returning to New York from San Francisco on July 9 when he was stopped, after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents saw a bulge hanging down over his left upper thigh.
"They wanted to know if I had something in my pockets, and when I said no, they asked if I had some sort of growth," he said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
He told them it was his penis, and they checked around his crotch, although not too closely. He was delayed for five minutes. The incident was not his first. "I've gone through the (scanner) before, and I wasn't worried.
"What was the worst that was going to happen? I was going to have to whip it out for them? I'm used to that. Sometimes when people ask me about it, if I'm feeling up to it, I'll just show them."
In a tweet at the time Falcon said: "TSA didn't know what to make of the massive bulge on my thigh. Even after I went through that body scanner that shows you naked..."
A 2003 Rolling Stone story entitled "Mr. Big" reported that Falcon's penis was eight inches long when he was only 10 years old. It quoted his mother as saying his organ size was genetic.


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Tequila and Lime Pork Spareribs
3 pounds pork spareribs
1 cup olive oil
juice from 4 limes
1/2 cup tequila
1/4 cup fine chopped onions
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 medium jalapenos, stem, seed and fine mince
2 tablespoons fine chopped fresh cilantro
Season the ribs with salt and pepper.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk the oil, lime juice, tequila, onions, garlic, jalapenos and cilantro. Whisk well. Season with salt and pepper.
Place the ribs, meat side down, in a glass baking dish. Pour the marinade over the ribs, coating each side completely.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (at least 12 hours, turning every couple of hours. Remove from the refrigerator and bring the ribs to room temperature.
Preheat the grill on low. Place the ribs, meat side down, and slow grill the ribs, turning and basting every 15 minutes. Cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the ribs are tender. Remove from the grill and slice into individual ribs.
Yield: 2 to 3 servings
Source of Recipe: Emeril Lagasse


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Rhizome's Seven on Seven is, by definition, a crap shoot. The conference runs with the basic premise that by pairing seven technologists with seven artists and sticking them in a room together for 24 hours, a few creative sparks might fly. The following day, Rhizome hosts a six hour long conference in which the pairs are given 30 minutes each to present their collaborative work. The results are predictably mixed. Some projects fail, many have potential, but almost none amount to anything at all. Acknowledging this, Seven on Seven Moderator John Michael Boling quickly conceded during his opening remarks that "the main deliverable here is conversation."
As with previous years, that much was immediately evident. Listening to the pairs of participants who got along sometimes felt a little witnessing new love—you're invited to hang out, but your role is to dutifully listen while they talk about how much they have in common. Even those who didn't seem to get along still talked about how great meeting was, though it was sometimes unclear whether they enjoyed it.
Early video loop artist Paul Pfeiffer and Giphy founder Alex Chung fell into the "lover" category, producing a talk dedicated to relaying all the topics they'd discussed. By the time they got around to introducing their project, GIFNOSIS.com, we were 25 minutes into a 30 minute presentation. The final five minutes was dedicated to discussing their website and downloadable screensavers, which basically allow one to "reprogram your subconscious with GIFs," by looping a horror gif with a kitten gif. The project seemed particularly informed by the Boston Marathon bomber manhunt, that occurred during the making of the work.
Artist Jill Magid and Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley similarly spent their presentation talking about their discussions, but unlike Pfeiffer and Chung, they were not a match made in heaven. Thanks to Crowley's bout with a cold, the two produced no project. Their presentation, which, like Pfeiffer and Chung's, was just summary of thoughts discussed, suggesting they might never have completed an idea; it took an enormous amount of time just to determine that the two shared "the city" as a medium. Not even conversation was likely to come of this collaboration.
By contrast, artist Matthew Ritchie and turntable.com founder Billy Chasen undoubtedly provided the most fodder for post-conference debate with Dabit.org. The charitable website divides the donations collected at the end of each day in two, giving half to a donor, chosen at random, and the other half to three non-profits.
"I don't understand how this isn't a totally morally corrupt project," a friend told me hotly, arguing that the site markets gambling as charity. "It's badge of honor for an essentially selfish act!" he continued. In addition to the possibility of winning loot, a real time visualization that has colors explode with larger size donations, provides visual gratification for those who opt to donate.
The concept may be crass, but Chasen spun it well. "There are plenty of people in this room who really need the money," he told us. "We can be charitable to each other." Those words didn't sell me, but I felt a lot better once I realized that the project wouldn't wholly appeal to the gambling impulse. Unlike many forms of betting, the payoff doesn't increase the more money one puts into the pot (though the game does become more appealing the more people donate, since that makes the betting pool gets larger.) In any event, Dabit's already been turned off until the two can get the organization charity status, so the discussion about this project may ultimately prove short-lived.
The strongest project of the event may actually hinder conversation. Artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Obama for America CTO Harper Reed created Friendfracker, an app that randomly deletes 1-10 Facebook friends. As someone who suffered from the effects of Facebook's race to 1 billion users—two years ago the site reactivated inactive accounts tipping me well over the 5,000 friend limit—the project holds some appeal. Finally a way to remove a few friends, guilt free! Well, almost. Friendfracker fucks with its users, in that it doesn't tell them which friends have been deleted. Even those of us who have plenty of inactive accounts to spare may not want to take the risk of deleting a good friend and failing to notice.
That danger is the appeal of the project, which is hilariously reinforced by their web graphic of a dude getting zapped. It may also ensure it's never used.
Within the context of Seven on Seven, that's not necessarily a failure. A lot of the work is meant to last about as long as the conference, and the more successful projects didn't try to do too much more than that. A good example of that came from artist Jeremy Bailey and gaming console CEO Julie Uhrman, whose presentation doubled as a performance that parodied Uhrman's own Powerpoint presentations. Jane McGonigal's famous TED talk on how gaming can save the world, seemed an obvious touchstone for these collaborators, as their zeal and concepts seemed just as absurd.
"We wanted to reinvent the presentation so that you get feedback to how you're doing halfway through" Uhrman told the audience, after explaining that the pair's idea came from their shared interest in winning. Soon, an augmented reality point-counter measuring our performance ran on a projection in the background. Who knows what it was counting.
By the time Bailey took the stage, the joke had been set up. "The future of presentations is measuring their success in real time." He began, before introducing the group's signature Powerpoint feature; Big Dick Mode. This particular add on seemed to exist for the sole purpose of attaching itself to Seven on Seven's Moderator John Michael Boling, and tracking his movements around the stage! Boling ended up hiding behind a podium, bemoaning his google results, as a dick attached itself to his side!
While this presentation got points for entertainment, far fewer points can be given to Cameron Martin and Tara Tiger Brown. This pair decided their audience was passive—a point at least one tweeter took issue with—and took it upon themselves to "transform" the audience. They did this by telling tweeters to use the hashtag #3Dhelper. This way, we could crowdsource 3D rendering software instructions for a kid they pulled from the audience, who said he didn't know how to use the program. He was given ten minutes to print his initials. Predictably, the audience found it easier to shout instructions than to tweet them.
While Martin and Tiger Brown demonstrated more by error than by trial—imposing technology to demonstrate known characteristics of crowds isn't the road to new ideas— the most effective call to action removed the specificity of the "call" altogether. Composer Fatima Al Qadiri and App.net Founder Dalton Caldwell produced a score and video composed of text message and computer update bleeps. Entirely imageless, the video fades words like "constant", "firm", and "steadfast" in and out to the relaxing sounds of waterdrops and glass tinking. Yet, these sounds, known mostly for their role as computer alerts soon became nerve wracking. After a while, any repeating computer sound begs to be turned off.


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Patrick Schmidt
Patrick Schmidt is professor of music education at Western University. Schmidt's innovative work in critical pedagogy and policy is recognized internationally. Recent publications can be found in the International Journal of Music Education, Theory into Practice, Arts Education Policy Review, and Research in Music Education. Schmidt has led several consulting and evaluative projects including for the National Young Arts Foundation and the New World Symphony, USA, and the Ministry of Culture and Education, Chile. Schmidt co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Music Education and Social Justice released in 2015 and co-edited a two-volume book on Leadership in Higher Music Education, published by Routledge in its ISME series. His books Policy and the Political Life of Music Education co-edited with Richard Colwell and Policy as Practice: A Guide for Music Educators were released by Oxford in 2017 and 2020, respectively. In 2021 he co-edited the Routledge Handbook to Sociology of Music Education.
Contact: Western University, Canada, 1151 Richmond St., Office 117, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada.


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Little Girl's Tears Turn into Laughing Fit at Doctor's Office
Nobody likes going to the doctor, but this child's natural fear response transforms into gales of laughter when the doctor begins working in a ticklish area.
In case you're squeamish, the procedure was just bit of callus scraping around a plantar wart — nothing too serious! The little girl's split-second transitions from crying to laughing to crying (to laughing again) are a joy to watch. While the video does happen to finish on the crying end of the spectrum, we're convinced she was given a treat afterward and everything turned out just fine.


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Find houses in Conwy (County of) or flats in Conwy (County of) with Rightmove.co.uk - the UK's number one property website. Rightmove is the best place to find the very latest property for sale in Conwy (County of). You can also find property to rent in Conwy (County of), a list of estate agents in Conwy (County of) or view sold house prices in Conwy (County of).
Take a look at our current list of property for sale in Conwy (County of). Rightmove.co.uk lists over one million flats and houses to buy or to rent across London and the UK. We update our listings continuously. You may also want to see houses and flats in other areas of Wales, including Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Isle Of Anglesey and Wrexham (County of).


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Bitcoin ATM Los Angeles - Coinhub
Coinhub Bitcoin ATM in Los Angeles, California
You can instantly buy bitcoin with cash at our Coinhub Bitcoin ATM near Los Angeles, California. Coinhub offers $25,000 daily limits and lowest rates for Bitcoin. Automated Teller Machines (Bitcoin ATMs) allow you to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using cash. Coinhub's Bitcoin cash kiosks are a fast and convenient way to buy Bitcoin and have it delivered directly to your wallet in minutes. Coinhub Bitcoin machines are easy to use and allow buying at our btc atm to be fast and instant. You can purchase Bitcoin instantly from a Coinhub Bitcoin Machine located near you and receive it in minutes. You can purchase Bitcoin in less than 2 minutes, and you don't need an account. To purchase Bitcoin, simply walk up to any Coinhub Bitcoin ATM and verify your details. Many Coinhub Bitcoin ATMs allow you to buy and sell crypto for cash. You can buy Bitcoin using one our Bitcoin ATMs. First, locate the nearest Bitcoin ATM in your area by visiting our Coinhub Bitcoin ATM Locator. Walk up to the machine and enter your phone number. You will then verify your phone with a code and scan your bitcoin wallet. Enter bills one bill at a time for the amount you would like to purchase and confirm the bitcoin atm prior to purchase. The bitcoin is instantly sent to your wallet. The daily buying limit is $25,000. There are Bitcoin Machines located in major cities across the country. Visit a Coinhub Bitcoin ATM today.
This Coinhub Bitcoin ATM is located within Dialnet Iphone Repair at 7549 Melrose Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90046. It allows you to buy Bitcoin at any of the following locations and near neighborhoods: Los Angeles; Fairfax, West Hollywood; Hancock Park, Hollywood; Hollywood Hills West, Beverly Hills; Beverly Hills; Beverly Hills, Pico; Larchmont, South Robertson, Olympic Park, Wilshire Center-Koreatown, Studio City, Hollywood Studio District, Culver City, McManus, West Hollywood; Park East; Park West; Park West; Park West; Glendale, Brentwood; Downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles (US: (listen) lawss AN-jəl-əs; Spanish: Los Ángeles [los ˈaŋxeles], lit. 'The Angels'), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world's most populous megacities. Los Angeles is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits as of 2020, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. The city of Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to its east. It covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km2), and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estimated 9.86 million residents as of 2022.Home to the Chumash and Tongva indigenous peoples, the area that became Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542.
Aliso Village, Angelus Vista, Arlington Heights, Baldwin Vista, Bel Air, Beverlywood, Brentwood, Brentwood Glen, Brentwood Heights, Brookside, Carthay Square, Castle Heights, Central LA, Crestview, Cypress Park


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One of the most intriguing areas to watch this offseason will be the Eagles' maneuvering to find their 2013 quarterback. To that end, there's a clear path that they have to undertake -- and it begins next week.
Feb. 6: If Michael Vick remains on the roster after this date, $3 million of his salary automatically becomes guaranteed. That makes the 6th the first important marker in the Eagles' decision-making process. Do they keep Vick, absorbing the contract hit because his athleticism may still be the best option for Chip Kelly's offense?
That's unlikely. Vick still has great mobility and a rocket arm, but his decision-making, despite a few years of tutoring from Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg, is questionable. Moreover, even if you can keep Vick happy and teach him a new offense, the upside is limited. He still wants to start, but will turn 33 before training camp with significant wear and tear on his body. At best you're buying a stop gap option, and that doesn't seem worth the $3 million guarantee. Expect the Eagles to sever ties with Vick after the Super Bowl.
March 12: Free agency begins. Unfortunately, there aren't many quarterbacks out there of note. Still, the Eagles should be dipping their toes into this pool if they let Vick walk. Players like Tarvaris Jackson, Matt Moore and Jason Campbell are best suited to a backup role, but they might rather get a shot of competition in Philadelphia than automatically sit on the bench. Are you scraping the bottom of the barrel here? Sure. But every team needs depth and competition at the QB spot, and these options aren't going to be expensive. Maybe you get away without signing someone if you think Trent Edwards can adapt.
April 1: The only potential free agent who actually may be able to start is Alex Smith, currently under contract with the Super Bowl-bound 49ers. Smith, according to reports, has a contract clause that kicks in on April Fools Day that makes his entire $7.5 million salary guaranteed. San Francisco certainly isn't going to pay that, so they will look for suitors before having to cut him outright.
The Smith case will be interesting to watch because of the multitude of factors at play. The Niners have to trade him in the month of March, or else cut him. They have little leverage unless multiple bidders step up. The question is, who would bid highly for Smith? At first glance, there are seven teams who will be in the Franchise QB hunt this offseason: Buffalo, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Oakland, Philadelphia and Arizona. Most of them are in rebuilding phases where buying a soon-to-be 29-year-old quarterback isn't on the agenda.
Plus, John Harbaugh and the 49ers haven't exactly treated Smith like a franchise guy. They openly flirted with Peyton Manning, then benched Smith in the middle of his best season for an unproven second-year player. That doesn't seem like a quarterback in whom you want to invest.
In partnership with NBC Sports Philadelphia
If I were the Eagles, I would part with a 2013 late round pick or a conditional selection in 2014 based on playing time for Smith. Certainly if the 49ers cut him, you have to investigate. He's no great quarterback, but competence and a dash of athleticism could still be valuable.
April 25 to 27: The NFL Draft. If the Eagles handled free agency properly, they should have Nick Foles and at least one other potential starter (or at worst, a fair backup) at this point. You never want to enter the draft with a glaring need, especially at quarterback, or other teams will use that knowledge to their advantage. Plus, you just can't count on getting the guy you want.
Unfortunately, the Eagles (and other teams) are shackled with a poor class of quarterbacks. It's even poorer when you look for guys who could fit Chip Kelly's system. The order of all of these players is still being sorted out, but from what I've been reading, there are only a couple that really interest me. In the first round, Geno Smith out of West Virginia could be an option. No one thinks he's the second coming of RGIII, but he had a lengthy, productive college career throwing from the pocket and has some mobility to boot. Smith also seems likely to score highly on the Football Outsiders Lewin Forecast.
While first round picks are less expensive than they once were, the Eagles shouldn't reach for Smith with the fourth overall pick unless they're sure he can be an elite guy. A later round option is EJ Manuel, the Florida State quarterback who was just named Most Outstanding Player at the Senior Bowl. Here's what Mike Tanier said about him recently:
Manuel is impressive on film and when discussing his game. He is not nearly as impressive when standing in a pocket and distributing passes in a stripped-down game plan. He has the size coaches covet ("He looks like a tight end out there," Detroit Lions/South Squad coach Jim Schwartz said) but his best bet will be to follow the route of (Russel) Wilson: earn a mid-round selection and find a coach amenable to his playing style -- perhaps Chip Kelly, who recruited Manuel out of high school and now coaches the Eagles.
Sounds promising. The nice thing about Manuel is that he potentially fits Kelly's style, and also wouldn't cost a top pick. Consensus suggests he's more of a 3rd to 5th round prospect (at least, before his Senior Bowl performance). At that low risk, I'd draft Manuel in a heartbeat. Let him compete for the job in an up-tempo spread offense like he's used to. If it works out, maybe you've caught something similar to Wilson. If not, move on without any huge cost.
July 22: Training camp will start sometime at the end of July. This is when the real competition begins between free agents, rookies and the incumbent Foles. One note about Foles: I don't have anything against him, but he's essentially the fall back option here. He's cheap and has shown some skills. Don't hand him anything. Let Foles prove that he deserves to start -- and that he can compensate for his lack of running skills.
April 24 to 26 (2014): I've discussed before how the best way to find a franchise quarterback is to keep throwing them at the wall until one sticks. The general outline of pairing Foles with a rookie and a veteran free agent seems like the best way to pursue that path this year. But the nice thing is that you're not wedded to anyone long term. If none of those options work this time, you start over again. Next year's draft could be loaded with talented, athletic quarterbacks like Logan Thomas, Tahj Boyd and Teddy Bridgewater. When at first you don't succeed: try, try again.


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
You can purchase a weather Radio which will alert you to severe weather alerts. Or if you prefer to receive alerts via your cell phone you can visit the Thunder Radio website and sign up for their text message service. You will be sent a text message anytime there is a warning for our County.
Show All Answers
The County Code for your NOAA weather radio is 047031.
We have a list of vendors in our office at 300 Hillsboro Boulevard that contains different manufacturers to choose from.


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Advertisement |
Trevor Anthony Ariza (born June 30, 1985 in Miami, Florida) is an American basketball player in the National Basketball Association who plays for the New Orleans Hornets. Primarily a small forward, he is listed at 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall and 210 pounds.
Trevor Ariza played AAU basketball for 4d, a traveling youth basketball team that had numerous All-Americans on the roster. Ariza attended Westchester High School in Los Angeles, California, where as a junior he combined with teammates and fellow future NBA players Hassan Adams, Brandon Heath, and Bobby Brown to lead the Comets to the California State championship.
After one season at UCLA Ariza declared for the NBA draft and was a second round choice (43rd overall) of the New York Knicks in 2004.


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If you are writing to request assistance with a state agency, a signed Privacy Act Release form is required. You may download a copy of this form by clicking here. Please email, mail, or fax this form to our office so we may assist you.
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AMD Kaveri Arrives: A8-7600 APU Review
Introduction and Specifications
Way back in 2006, after the ATI acquisition, AMD laid out its Fusion initiative and future plans to integrate a CPU and GPU onto the same processor die. The ultimate goal of Fusion was to seamlessly combine CPU and GPU resources into a single, cohesive compute engine equally adept at handling serial and highly parallel workloads. At the time, the idea seemed ambitious, but history has shown that more and more external resources have consistently been brought onto the CPU die (memory controllers, IO hub, etc.) and graphics would be no different.
Since then, both Intel and AMD have quite successfully combined CPU and GPU engines onto single chips, but up to this point they have tended to work as autonomous islands. The CPU and GPU share some resources, but not a single memory pool. That changes today though, with the official launch of AMD's Kaveri-based APUs, the first APUs to truly support heterogeneous computing.
We've been talking about Kaveri for quite some time and have quite a bit of content available related to today's launch. We'd suggest checking out this link for a list of all of the Kaveri-related coverage we've got available. In this piece, we'll finally be able to show you some hard numbers, using one of the more interesting SKUs in the initial AMD Kaveri-based product line-up - the AMD A8-7600 APU...
AMD A-Series APU In Socket FM2+ Flavor
Stream Processors | Up to 512 |
Core Clock | Up to 3.7/4.0GHz |
Graphics Clock | Up to 720MHz |
Memory Support | Up to 2400MHz w/ AMP |
Typical TDP |
Chipset Compatibility | A88X, A78, A55 |
HSA Heterogeneous Computing | Yes |
AMD TrueAudio Technology | Yes |
API Support |
DirectX 11.2, Mantle |
Up to 4 "Steamroller" x86 computing cores
Up to 8 GCN-based GPU cores
HSA Hetereogeneous Computing
FM2+ Platform
AMD TrueAudio Technology
Unified Video Decoder and Compression Engine
Before we get to the benchmarks, we've got some features and specifications to share. As you can see in the table above (and as we've detailed many times in the past), Kaveri combines AMD's latest Steamroller CPU microarchitecture with a GCN-based graphics engine, with up to 512 stream processors. Peak CPU clocks will vary depending on model, but the graphics clock maxes out at 720MHz. These AMD desktop-targeted APUs will carry TDPs of 45W – 95W.
AMD's goal with Kaveri was to target virtually every market segment, from micro-servers all the way on up to high-end desktops. The architecture was designed with performance-per-watt in mind and some SKUs (like the A8-7600 we'll be showing you here) offer scalable TDPs. The A8-7600 can actually be configured to operate with 45w or 65w TDPs.
Above is a funky Kaveri "die shot" that looks somewhat like a cross between a die map and blurred actual die shot. Regardless, it illustrates where all of the major chip components reside on the APU. Roughly 47% of Kaveri's die (the large, orange/copper looking block) is dedicated to its GPU. Along the top of this image are the chip's PCI Express and display interface blocks, at the bottom (and the spike about in the middle) is the DDR3 phy and UNB, and to the right are the dual, dual-core X86 Steamroller CPU modules.
All told, Kaveri is comprised of approximately 2.41 billion transistors and has a die size of 245mm2. That's about a billion more transistors than Richland, with roughly the same die area. AMD was able to accomplish this feat by working with Global Foundries on a new 28nm SHP manufacturing process, that's less CPU-optimized but offered better area utilization for graphics. Using this 28nm SHP process, which employs bulk silicon, forced AMD to sacrifice some CPU frequency at the high-end of the TDP scale, but with better power characteristics at the sweet spot.


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What are the 13 'must have' highlights a top drawer home needs?
Dress to Impress
Literally no one at this high-end level would consider a house without a substantial dressing room in the master suite. A recent study by De'Longhi revealed that 45 per cent of modern women choose a walk-in wardrobe as the ultimate status symbol but Barton Wyatt would put this figure at 100 per cent for their clients and they usually want two – a his and hers versions ideally decked out in beautiful oak paneling. A well fitted and kitted dressing room screams luxury and glamour at prospective buyers.
Time for Tea
The latest in kitchen wizardry is the constant boiling tap. Gone are the days of waiting for the kettle to boil, at the push of a lever choose between filtered boiling and chilled water which appears almost instantly from the same tap. And it is worth mentioning that they can be more economical to run than a conventional kettle which often heats more water than is actually needed.
Thank you for the music
No home is complete without a state of the art music streaming system. Modern homes these days will have speakers cleverly sunk into the ceiling of many of your rooms. These unbelievable music systems will wirelessly manage all your music; you can create playlists and individually control the volume in every room.
Bath time
The absolute luxury for those with enough space in the home is to have a Mr and Mrs bath-suite. Busy executives are likely to be dashing through the bathroom at the same time in the morning and having your own space is as good as it gets for ensuring a calm and peaceful start to the day.
Wine o'clock
A top end home would be incomplete without a wine cellar. Either designed within the basement or quite often fitted as an after build project. A watertight, pre-cast cylindrical system that's sunk into the ground, it can be located anywhere from kitchen to conservatory, workshop to study. Built to house in the region of 1,500 bottles you might want to consider the fun you would have just filling it!
We gotta move these colour TVs
Televisions are one of the items in most homes that have changed more than anything else in the past 10 years. Out with the old bulky CRT and in with massive flat screen 3D HD TVs. The size and sheer number of TV's in your home will be of great importance to your children even if it is not for you. The new standard size for a home in Wentworth is nothing under 80 ins, however the 108 ins models are starting to drop in price and are the new in-thing, it will not be long before 'whole wall' models will become the very latest in TV fashion. And a serious show-off you might have their own private cinema room, a TV in the jacuzzi, the end of the bath or even as a splash back on your cooker!
Get green fingered
There is nothing more impressive to a prospective client than being met by the sight of a fabulously maintained and well thought-out garden. New homes built and not landscaped will not attract the big money. Savvy developers spend huge amounts on planting established trees, box hedging and on occasion some lavish topiary will work wonders for a sale. With all this greenery going on a built in irrigation system will be a must to keep those lawns the perfect shade of green. The latest new homes are designed with water collection from the roofs and driveway fed into vast underground storage tanks to make sure you are as environmentally friendly as possible.
Petrol Heads
Garaging might seem a little dull and purely functional but let's be honest if you are living in a multi-million pound home there is a good chance that you will have a few cars floating around and they need housing. The fanciest garages are hidden underground - one particularly fabulous one had a car lift to whisk the cars underground and away from prying eyes. Here below the house was parking for four or five vehicles at a car friendly temperature to keep them pristine.
Super-size means super quick sale
Traditional homes were built with small rooms to keep them warm but with the advent of under-floor heating and huge capacity boilers small rooms are a thing of the past.
The houses that race out the door at Barton Wyatt have massive super rooms up and downstairs that give houses a tremendous feeling of light and space. These rooms will incorporate a lavish kitchen, dining area and seating for many guests as well as huge master bedroom suites.
As safe as houses
State of the art security is all the rage for your mansion-pad. Your home might not be MI5 HQ but keeping you and the family safe is going to be a priority. With some homes designed with panic rooms, CCTV cameras littered around the grounds and a direct phone to the police, this might seem a little over the top however, for some families, especially royalty, this might be a good investment.
A helping hand
Busy families with busy lives often means a live-in nanny or house keeper is required to keep things ticking over and they will require accommodation.
For the absolute best results staff accommodation will include its own entrance and en-suite bathroom with a kitchenette.
This way both you and your staff get their own space and this living space can also be used at some point to accommodate an ageing relative or a grumpy teenager.
Hanging on the telephone - not any more
The drive for universal mobile phone coverage has seen masts hung from every street corner and disguised as fir trees, clocks and even church windows.
Now miniature versions containing a 3G transmitter and receiver have been made available for your living room.
Don't worry the radiation levels are minimal, no more than a regular Wi-Fi router and you can connect the 'mast' to your router enabling it to carry the calls, emails and mobile Wi-Fi through your existing broadband connection.
The cupboard was bare
Have you ever dreamed of having too much storage space? Well this is a very in-vogue thing to impress your friends. Throwing open the cupboards of your new home to show them just how much space you have has become a sign of luxury. To be bang on trend the items hanging should all match and be colour coded, too!


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A good thought
Changes everything it touches
For the better.
Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 26, Agni Press, 2002
The fulness of life
Lies in dreaming and manifesting
The impossible dreams.Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy has devoted his life to the pursuit of a dream: a world where harmony and oneness reign supreme. Towards that end, for over forty years he has been a dynamic proponent of cross-cultural understanding through the arts, athletics and humanitarian service.
Since coming to America in 1964, Sri Chinmoy has established a wide range of cultural, humanitarian and spiritual programmes in many countries, involving countless citizens from all walks of life.
In new ways these projects foster the ancient and universal values which underlie all cultures and faiths. By nurturing the growth of the heart of oneness, the participants in these programmes strive to offer a collective energy for the betterment of the world.


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Pluralism is the theory that a multitude of groups, not the people as a whole, govern the United States. These organizations, which include among others unions, trade and professional associations, environmentalists, civil rights activists, business and financial lobbies, and formal and informal coalitions of like-minded citizens, influence the making and administration of laws and policy. Since the participants in this process constitute only a tiny fraction of the populace, the public acts mainly as bystanders.
Indeed, some pluralists believe that direct democracy is not only unworkable; it is not even necessarily desirable. Besides the logistical problems of having every citizen meet at one time to decide policies, political issues require continuous and expert attention, which the average citizen does not have. Robert Dahl, a noted pluralist, suggested in one of his early writings that in societies like ours "politics is a sideshow in the great circus of life." Most people, he explained, concentrate their time and energies on activities involving work, family, health, friendship, recreation, and the like. Other pluralists go further. They worry that the common person lacks the virtues--reason, intelligence, patience--for self-government and that direct democracy leads to anarchy and the loss of freedom.
Nor do pluralists think that representative democracy works as well in practice as in theory. Voting is important, to be sure. But Americans vote for representatives, not for specific policy alternatives. A candidate's election cannot always be interpreted as an endorsement of a particular course of action.
Politicians frequently win office with only a "plurality" of the votes--that is, they receive more votes than their opponents--but not with a majority of the total eligible electorate. President Reagan, for example, received approximately 51 percent of the ballots cast in 1980, but his total constituted only about a quarter of the votes of all potential voters, since only 55 percent of those eligible to participate actually went to the polls. Furthermore, a first choice among candidates is not necessarily the same as a first choice among policies. The people who elected President Clinton, for example, did not all agree with his positions on health care, taxes, national defense, Bosnia, and the environment. Many of them, in fact, were probably voting against his opponent, George Bush, rather than for Clinton himself.
If Americans do not decide major controversies themselves or indirectly through elections, how are such matters resolved? Pluralists are convinced that public policy emerges from competition among groups. Since relatively few people participate actively in this process, power, it might seem, would be concentrated in few hands. Before drawing any dire conclusions about the possible undemocratic nature of this form of government, however, it is necessary to look at political power as pluralists see it.
Everyone recognizes political power when they see it: Congress raises taxes; the president sends troops to Bosnia; the Supreme Court declares the death penalty constitutional; a police officer tells a motorist to pull off the road. In each instance a group or person makes others do something they would not otherwise do. Seen from this perspective, the definition of power seems simple enough. Yet the term is loaded with implications that must be fully grasped if one is to understand pluralism.
Resources. In the first place, power is not an identifiable property that humans possess in fixed amounts. Rather, people are powerful because they control various resources. Resources are assets that can be used to force others to do what one wants. Politicians become powerful because they command resources that people want or fear or respect. The list of possibilities is virtually endless: legal authority, money, prestige, skill, knowledge, charisma, legitimacy, free time, experience, celebrity, and public support. Civil rights activists in the 1960s relied mainly on their numbers and the legitimacy of their cause to get their way whereas corporations frequently depend on their access to officeholders, control of information, and campaign contributions. Whatever the case, pluralists emphasize that power is not a physical entity that individuals either have or do not have, but flows from a variety of different sources.
Potential versus Actual Power. Pluralists also stress the differences between potential and actual power. Actual power means the ability to compel someone to do something; potential power refers to the possibility of turning resources into actual power. Cash, one of many resources, is only a stack of bills until it is put to work. A millionaire may or may not be politically influential; it all depends on what the wealth is spent for--trips to the Bahamas or trips to Washington. Martin Luther King Jr., for example, was certainly not a rich person. But by using resources such as his forceful personality, organizational skills, and especially the legitimacy of his cause, he had a greater impact on American politics than most wealthy people. A particular resource like money cannot automatically be equated with power because the resource can be used skillfully or clumsily, fully or partially, or not at all.
Three of the major tenets of the pluralist school are (1)resources and hence potential power are widely scattered throughout society; (2) at least some resources are available to nearly everyone; and (3) at any time the amount of potential power exceeds the amount of actual power.
Scope of Power. Finally, and perhaps most important, no one is all-powerful. An individual or group that is influential in one realm may be weak in another. Large military contractors certainly throw their weight around on defense matters, but how much sway do they have on agricultural or health policies? A measure of power, therefore, is its scope, or the range of areas where it is successfully applied. Pluralists believe that with few exceptions power holders in America usually have a relatively limited scope of influence.
For all these reasons power cannot be taken for granted. One has observe it empirically in order to know who really governs. The best way to do this, pluralists believe, is to examine a wide range of specific decisions, noting who took which side and who ultimately won and lost. Only by keeping score on a variety of controversies can one begin to identify actual power holders.
The pluralists' view of power underlies their interpretation of how the American political system operates, a topic to which we now turn.
Perhaps the key characteristic of American government, according to pluralists, is that it is dominated not by a single elite but rather by a multiplicity of relatively small groups, some of which are well organized and funded, some of which are not. Although a few are larger and more influential than the others, the scope of their power, far from being universal, is restricted to relatively narrow areas such as defense, agriculture, or banking.
A second characteristic is that the groups are politically autonomous, or independent. They have the right and freedom to do business in the political marketplace. How well they fare depends not on the indulgence of a higher authority but on their own skill in rallying political resources. Because a diverse society like ours contains so many potential factions, political autonomy guarantees constant, widespread, and spirited competition among these organizations.
Third, intergroup competition leads to countervailing influence: The power of one group tends to cancel that of another so that a rough equilibrium results. Group memberships overlap as well. Members of one association, in other words, might belong to another, even competing, group. Overlapping memberships reduce the intensity of conflicts because loyalties are often spread among many organizations.
A fourth characteristic is the openness of the system. It is open in two senses. First, most organizations are seldom if ever completely shut off from the outside. They continuously recruit new members from all walks of life. Second, the availability of unused resources constantly encourages the formation of new groups. Stimulated by threats to their interests or sensitized to injustices, or for whatever reason, individuals frequently unite for political action. In the process groups mine untapped resources. This happened in 1989 when a Supreme Court decision gave states greater latitude in restricting abortions. The Court's action so scared and angered pro-choice groups that they accelerated their organizing efforts to prevent states from enacting stiffer antiabortion laws.
Pluralists judge society not by its actual equality but by its equality of political opportunity. Americans, they contend, have a comparatively equal chance to participate in government. By mobilizing resources (collecting signatures on a petition, for example) they can make existing groups share their influence, or they can create new organizations that will compete with established ones.
The fifth characteristic of the system is the endless quest by groups and office seekers for public support. Even though the masses do not govern directly, their opinions are a resource that can be used by one organization against another. In a country where the belief in popular control of government is so deeply ingrained, people feel compelled to sell their causes to the public, and are frequently judged winners or losers by their standings in the polls. What else explains the millions of dollars spent on advertising? What else accounts for the demand for public relations consultants? Why else is so much attention lavished on public opinion surveys? The answers lie in the widely shared belief that a group with popular backing has an important advantage over one that lacks it, even if the masses do not actually take part in decision making.
The public also exerts influence by choosing leaders, most of whom back and are backed by organized groups. So important is this responsibility that one scholar defined democracy as "an institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which [groups] acquire power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people's vote."
The final characteristic of pluralism is consensus on the "rules of the game." Consensus, or widespread agreement, among political activists and leaders on democratic principles and values holds the system together. These people accept regular and open elections, the right to vote, majority rule, political equality, free speech, the right to assemble, and the other rules that make peaceful and orderly politics possible. They tolerate differences of opinion. And, of utmost significance, they abide by the outcomes of elections.
Some pluralists contend that, since this acceptance of democratic norms is higher among leaders than the general public, political disagreements are best settled at the top, where they can be dealt with fairly and dispassionately. Keeping the intolerant and shortsighted masses at bay helps ensure the system's safety and stability. The theory, in short, argues that American government stays free because its main participants, the individuals who actually make policy, agree on a code of conduct that is not always shared by the public at large.
Since it is fair to say that pluralism is the most widely accepted interpretation of American government, it might be useful to consider a concrete example to clarify the theory's main points. See the document,"The B-1 Bomber: A Case Study."


text: August 24th, 2006: There's a 17 minute audio interview with me done by Jim Munroe, who you may know from his No Media Kings website where he writes about self-publishing and invoices companies for product placement in his books and a whole bunch of other cool stuff. We were on a panel together once and he knows so much about so much that it is kind if intimidating, but he's also really nice, so it works out well! ANYWAY, we sat down for a lunch a while ago and chatted and he recorded it and you can listen to it here! I think I talk about how I need to buy new pajamas. AND MORE??? One year ago today: scientists: those guys are on the ball – Ryan


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Jordan Foils 'Major Terrorist Plot'
Eleven men have been arrested by Jordanian intelligence services which accuses them of planning a "major terrorist plot," attacking shopping centers, residential buildings and foreigners, including diplomats.
Jordan's state-run news agency, Petra, reported today that the plan was uncovered months ago during its early stages as the accused terrorists carried out surveillance on potential targets and armed themselves with explosives, guns and mortars.
The men were described as "terrorists associated with the ideology of Al Qaeda." Photos posted on the agency's website showed four of the men with the bushy beards often associated with Salafism, an ultra-conservative brand of Islam.
The plot, it was reported, was dubbed "9/11 (2)," and would start with an attack on diplomats in hotels. Then two shopping malls would be bombed, followed by other attacks using TNT and "new types of explosives to be used for the first time." Some of the weapons allegedly came from Syria and the accused were said to have consulted with al Qaeda explosives experts over the internet. Suicide bombers and car bombs would also be used.
The Jordanian authorities said the group was "under constant surveillance at every stage" and that they had started choosing members to carry out the attacks.
"Their objective was to create a highly destructive explosive that would cause the highest number of casualties and extensive physical damage," said the statement on the Petra web site.
Jordan has not seen the protests and violence that many of its neighbors have during the so-called Arab Spring, but discontent with the ruling monarchy is growing. Earlier this month, King Abdullah II dissolved parliament and new elections have been announced for January. Around 15,000 people, most supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, called for reform on Oct. 5 in the biggest demonstrations the country has seen since the Arab Spring began.
Jordan has also taken more than 200,000 Syrian refugees, with that number expected to grow dramatically in the coming months as the violence in Syria continues unabated. A second refugee camp is due to open to cope with the influx.


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I have been following Charlie Martin's 13 Weeks and 13 Weeks II with great interest since I am a big believer in Gary Taubes insights about carbohydrates, insulin resistance and obesity.
However, and not to muddle Charlie's science, Taubes does not spend much time (if any) evaluating the very interesting stuff being learned about gut bacteria and the human biome.
The Paleo people are already on this, however - Mark Sisson has a guide to fermented foods (or see the Web MD slideshow).
Bubbies sauerkraut, pickles, and pickled green tomatoes are good sources of fermenting bacteria. Yogurt with active cultures is the old standby, and kefir has a nice tang to it.
And my question - from his early diet I don't see any mention of or emphasis on fermented foods. Is that something Charlie has experimented with?
Food for thought, as it were.


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Ok, now I'm running without CMA and I can tune up my overclock.MaxK1 wrote:Just comment out all gpu_mem_256/512, cma_<stuff> in config.txt and put back whatever you might have had for gpu_mem= and you should be OK. I'm going to stay away from the CMA stuff unless/until something changes or I get some time to play around with a heatsink to prove/disprove there is a thermal component to this equation or I get some other goofy idea. In other words, the kernel/firmware seem fine, just leave CMA alone (for now). At least I haven't found a good reason to go back to the previous kernel/firmware.
Edit: I should have added that I needed to power off for about "n" minutes where"n" was greater than 2,
more like 5.


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